Global Renewable Energy Forum in Brazil

The Global Renewable Energy Forum held in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, from 18 to 21 May 2008 was hosted at the Hotel Bourbon Cataratas Resort & Convention Center, with promising outcomes.

The Forum, which was jointly organized by UNIDO, the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy, Eletrobrás and Itaipu Binacional, brought together over 1500 participants from a wide range of backgrounds, including 55 speakers from more than 40 countries, 80 accredited journalists, and high-level governmental representatives in the field of energy and industry from Latin America and Africa mainly.

• Mr. Edison Lobão, Minister of Mines and Energy, Brazil
• Mr. José Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, Minister of Energy and Waters, Angola
• Ms. Ousmane Alioune Ngom, Minister of Mining and Industry, Senegal
• Ms. Haja Kabbah, Minister of  Energy & Power, Sierra Leone
• Mr. Mohammed Malin Mahmud, Minister for Energy, Kenya
• Ms. Yadira García Vera, Minister of Basic Industry, Cuba
• Mr. Juan Manuel Presa Sague, Viceminister of Basic Industry, Cuba
• Mr. Aristides Fernández Zucco, Minister of Energy, Dominican Republic
• Mr. Jordy Herrera Flores, Vice-Minister of Energy Planning and Technical Development, Mexico,

Representatives from UN agencies, bilateral organizations, private sector, academia and regional and international nongovernmental organizations, also participated in the Global Forum.

Therefore, the Global Forum became a unique opportunity for promoting business, investment projects and technical cooperation activities around the world, increasing commercial networking and bringing to the international arena successful experiences on renewables, particularly the ones promoted by Itaipu Binacional and its Brazilian Director General, Mr. Jorge Samek.

Today, one of the promising outcomes of the event, is that UNIDO and Itaipu are working on the establishment of a strong alliance that permits not only externalize Itaipú’s best experiences in renewables but also to promote the renewable energy technologies worldwide and establish a bridge between Brazil and Africa to interchange experiences and knowledge; and promote interregional investment projects.